Chamizal National Memorial grass is under stress, dried up

Edward Pi on, left, his wife, Irma Pi on and Jose Correa, right, use trails in the Chamizal National Memorial Thursday. Edward Pi on said he recalls the park grounds being much greener than it is now. (Rudy Gutierrez/El Paso Times)

Chamizal National Memorial's website bills the 55-acre park as an "urban oasis" and features photos of a green landscape.

But today's Chamizal, operated by the National Park Service, is much different. It's a parched landscape with large areas of brown or yellow grass and areas of bare dirt.

Mayela Sepulveda said she was disappointed to see the sad state of the park's landscape when she and some relatives went to the recent Fourth of July concert and fireworks show there.

REPORTER

Vic Kolenc

They sat on a patch of dirt in the bowl area where the city's Music Under the Stars summer concerts are held. The series includes the Fourth of July concert and fireworks display, which drew an estimated 16,000 people.

Sepulveda, 42, said she has gone to several concerts in past years, and part of the allure was the Chamizal's green grass, which, made the park fresher and cooler, she said.

"Usually we go with a blanket and lie on the grass, and it's soothing and relaxing," Sepulveda said. But this Fourth of July, it was dusty, which played havoc with her allergies, and most of the grass was yellow and dry, she said.

"I've been going to the park all my life, and this is the worst I've seen it," Sepulveda said.

Advertisement

She's decided not to go to other concerts at the park this summer because of the grass problems, Sepulveda said.

Gus Sanchez, Chamizal superintendent, said he too was surprised and concerned about the poor condition of the park's turf when he arrived in May to take over management of the park. It's located along Paisano Drive, between the free Bridge of the Americas and Bowie High School.

The park's landscape was in a much better state in the 1990s when Sanchez visited El Paso while working at Big Bend National Park, he said.

The reason a lot of the park's grass is in bad shape or has died is due to several factors, including the area's long, ongoing drought, he said.

"It's not a budget problem. It's mostly a climate problem," Sanchez said. "There's a limit to how much water you can put down" with limited, nighttime watering hours, and with one water well, he said.

"It will turn around," but it will take time and rain, he said. "We have to be patient."

The grass problems began in the summer of 2011 when the park's well pumps broke, and the turf was not adequately watered for 4 and a half months, he said. It took time for the pumps to be replaced, he said.

That put the turf under stress, and the effects are now being seen, he said. The thousands of people who go to the Music Under the Stars concerts each Sunday from June through early August put further stress on the turf as they walk and sit on it, he said.

The Chamizal also has to water the turf conservatively because it has to be careful not to let its one well dry up in the area's extremely dry conditions, he said.

Different sections of the park's turf are watered six to seven hours on a six-night rotation, Sanchez said. It would require much more watering to revive damaged turf, he said. Trucking water in was considered, but deemed too expensive, he said.

About a month ago Sanchez hired an irrigation contractor to study the park's sprinkler system, and to recommend improvements, he said. Part of that study is looking at the possibility of putting a more-efficient, computer-operated sprinkler system at the park, Sanchez said. He plans to write a funding proposal for a new system, he said.

The previous superintendent, Catherine Light, put together a long-term landscaping plan, which calls for putting native plants on the edges of the park, where grass has died and large areas of bare dirt remain. The amount of grass in the park will shrink, he said. That plan will go into action later this year when a new federal fiscal year begins, Sanchez said.

"We'll do some sodding" of bare areas in the concert bowl area and other parts of the park, Sanchez said. Seeding was tried last spring, but didn't work well, he said.

The Chamizal's current, annual budget is $2.3 million, but Sanchez didn't immediately know how much of that is spent on landscape maintenance.

Ben Fyffe, cultural programs supervisor for the city of El Paso, said the turf problems have hurt the Chamizal's aesthetics, which are important for the Music Under the Stars experience, he said. But as far as he knows, the city's Museums and Cultural Affairs Department has received no complaints about the Chamizal grass, he said.

Greener grass would be nice, but "we are conscious that we're in a pretty significant drought," Fyffe said.

The dry landscape apparently hasn't hurt attendance at the 10-concert series. It's drawn about 36,000 people for five concerts held so far this year -- up slightly from last year at this time, Fyffe said. Last year's series drew about 70,000 people, he said.

Edward Piñon, 61, said he's been going to the park most of his life, and he, like Sepulveda, said the turf is in the worst condition that he's ever seen.

"Some parts are in terrible shape," but that hasn't stopped Piñon and his wife from going to the park about three times a week to walk on its trails, he said.

Piñon said the turf problems are not due to lack of attention by park personnel, who, he said, he sees working on the turf each time he's there.

"I'm sure it will come back," he said.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at vkolenc@elpasotimes.com, 546-6421. Follow him on Twitter @vickolenc